Google Panda Now a Permanent Part of Search Algorithm

Sometime in the past week or so, the fabled algorithm moved from being a standalone update to being a part of Google’s core ranking algorithm.

So what does that mean for SEO’s and content producers?

For the most part, it means that they’ll never have to worry about when the next Panda refresh is coming. Now that it’s part of the main course, it will be continuously updated and refreshed.

And when did Panda get baked into the main ranking algorithm?

That’s a question that no one in the SEO world has yet to figure out and it’s also one that Google is unlikely to answer. Google, as you might know, is pretty tight-lipped these days when it comes to anything regarding algorithm updates.

In fact, the only reason we know about Panda’s new status is vaguely worded statement on a recently published Panda guide which read:

Panda is an algorithm that’s applied to sites overall and has become one of our core ranking signals. It measures the quality of a site, which you can read more about in our guidelines. Panda allows Google to take quality into account and adjust ranking accordingly.

While there are plenty of unanswered questions about when exactly the Panda got the call up to the big algorithm, they may not amount to more than a minor nuisance for most content creators. After all, Panda has been around for a few years now and most of the updates during that time impacted less than 1.5% of all English language queries.